Sunday, June 26, 2016

Changed Inside-out (1)

When a man receives Christ, two forms of change happen to him; while the first change is instantaneous and absolute, the second change, which is renewing of the mind, is progressive and continues throughout the man's sojourn on earth.

At the instance of the new birth, a man receives a brand new spirit, born of God; the literal description of this spiritual phenomenon is  that the dead spirit which a man had before he met Jesus goes into extinction and it is instantly 'replaced' by a new spirit.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (II Corinthians 5:17 NKJV)

The new creation is the spirit, the real man, not his soul or his body.

There is such a thing as being born of  God. It is actually birth of a new spirit. It is not a change of religion, it is a change ("replacement") of spirit.
Every being reproduces after his/her/its kind; God is a spirit (John 4:24), and He only gives birth to spirits:

“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
 (John 1:12-13 NKJV)

“For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.” (I John 5:4 NKJV)

This is the first change that happens to a man and it is this change that makes him a citizen of heaven: it is being "born again" which the Lord talked about in John 3:3:

“Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”" (John 3:3 NKJV)

Peter explains same:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (I Peter 1:3-5 NKJV).

It is not refurbishment or renovation of the old spirit, it is rather "...[the] cleansing [bath] of the new birth (regeneration) and renewing of the Holy Spirit,” (Titus 3:5 AMP).

If you have accepted Jesus as your savior by believing the gospel, you have the recreated human spirit (RHS) am  talking about. The RHS is the fountain of righteous living (righteous acts) and the foundation for the second change (i.e. renewing of the mind).

No comments:

Post a Comment

809